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Albert Einstein said, “In the history of mankind, there is only one person who can combine physical experiments, mathematical theories, and mechanical inventions into science and art — and that is Newton.” 』

Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation, invented calculus, and first proposed that visible light is composed of seven spectroscopic lights: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and red, he introduced mathematics into science, making physics and chemistry more accurate studies, and laid the foundation for mathematics to become the language for describing the motion of the universe in Newton’s three laws of motion mechanics. His outstanding achievements have earned him the title of “the most outstanding scientist in history” and “the father of modern physics”.

There are many biographies of Newton on the market, most of which praise Newton’s scientific achievements or refer to the apple that fell to the ground, but omit or distort Newton’s beliefs.

For example, when Newton explained why there is gravitational force in the universe, he based on a scientific hypothesis that “there may be a substance in the universe called ether, which is the conduction of gravity.” As a result, it is translated in this book: “There are gods in the universe, and the gods are the conveyors of gravity.” It just twisted Newton into a polytheist.

Hannah’s Prayer
Newton was born at midnight on December 25, 1642, and was born prematurely. At that time when infant mortality was high, it was rare for a premature baby to survive. Newton’s father was an illiterate farmer, and together with his strong-minded wife, Hannah Ayscough, ran a small farm in Woolsthorpe, England, and both belonged to the ‘Puritans’ – a group of staunch Christians.

Three months before Newton was born, his father died of illness, and the small farm lacking manpower did not produce a harvest, and the family was even poorer. When Newton was born, his family was so disrespected, that he could not afford to buy nourishment to feed this premature child. Hannah had just lost her husband, and when her only child was about to die, she remembered that there was a woman named Hannah in the Bible who prayed to God in her sorrow: “If thou wilt look upon thy servant’s afflictions, and thou wilt remember thy servant and give me a son, I will give him to thee all the days of thy life.” 1 Samuel 1:11

Newton’s mother held her premature baby in her arms and prayed the same prayer to God.
Throughout Newton’s life, his mother’s prayer had a profound impact on his personality and faith. The earliest record of Newton’s upbringing is his prayers, which he often wrote in the margins of his class notes, such as in 1662 when he was a sophomore in college:

My God! If my heart is inclined to evil, do not fulfill me, do not allow me to live by my faith alone, and do not use love for God as an excuse for my unloving love.
Not to follow you for blessings, not to desire you only in the church. Let me be a man who fears you, and because I fear you, I am not afraid of men.

Newton often wondered if God had listened to his mother’s prayers and that God had kept him alive because there must have been something he had to do.

When Newton was three years old, his family was so poor that his mother had to marry a 63-year-old widower from a neighboring village, the Rev. Barnabas Smith. Reverend Smith raised Newton on a meager salary, and when he died eight years later, the mother and son received some pensions, and Newton had to watch the cattle and horses after class to make ends meet.

Newton’s Kite
The village of Ustopp, where Newton lived, was the most famous place in Britain for the production of horse-drawn carriages. Most of the children here want to be coachmen when they grow up. Newton was different, he had a quiet personality, and Pastor Smith in particular left him a large pile of books on the Bible, theology, poetry, mathematics, history, law, mechanics, etc., which became the best treasures in his home. He often reads books in the attic where he collects them and even takes them with him when he watches the cows and horses. His mother watched quietly and noticed that the child was different.

When Newton entered secondary school, he began to show his special talent.

When many students immediately started cutting paper and tying brackets, Newton first put a piece of paper on his desk, carefully designed the size of the kite, and did some calculations before starting to do it. He was the slowest in his kite, but when he tried to fly, the whole class startled even his teacher, Stokes: how could Newton’s kite fly so high and so fast?

Afterward, Mr. Stockx told Newton’s mother that the child should go to college anyway. Hannah smiled: she had already prepared this child’s college tuition.

In June 1661 Newton entered Cambridge University. At that time, it was popular for Cambridge students to drink and play cards, calling it “pure entertainment”. Newton was a poor student, his mother saved only enough money to pay for his tuition, and he had to work as an assistant to his teacher in experiments to earn a living. In this way, he inadvertently brought him close to the excellent professors of Cambridge at that time, and inherited the essence of the research of these professors throughout his life, which became Newton’s later famous quote: “I see farther than others because I stand on the shoulders of giants. 』

The excellence of a university is determined by three conditions: first, the quality of teachers, second, the library and equipment, and third, the temperament of the school’s buildings and campus. The first is the most important. Many people enter the university without strolling through the corridors of the university and do not wander around the university grass to breathe academic freedom, which is a waste of university resources.

The studious Newton not only did not waste any resources at Cambridge University but also met good teachers who influenced him throughout his life.

Newton’s Calligraphy

Henry More was the teacher who had the deepest influence on Newton’s science and faith.

Moore, a mathematician, and a devout Christian, said, “God created this world to make people know it, to seek Him, to thank it. It is arrogant for anyone to despise the marvelous creatures of this world and to see what the world does not have to be miraculous. Moore believes that the purpose of putting mathematics in education is: “Education is a kind of moral and intellectual cultivation, and the mathematics curriculum is designed to train students to think more precisely.” Long-term mathematics education is a stressful exercise for students, to stimulate a person’s hard work. It is with hard work that a person can keep to the moral code for a long time, and the moral code comes from God. Therefore, mathematics education and faith go hand in hand. 』

Professor Moore, with a teacher’s keen intuition for his students, immediately noticed Newton’s difference. He found that before the beginning of each semester, Newton used the vacation to read all the textbooks that were going to be classed, and by the time the class started, Newton was already reading more advanced research reports than that class.

Newton himself wrote, “When I walk into a classroom, I often find that I know more about the content than my teacher. This kind of calligraphy would have put a lot of pressure on the average teacher, but Moore turned to Newton and gave him more in-depth books, such as Kepler’s “Optics” and Sanderson’s “Logic,” and made his 1,800 books “a library open to Newton at any time.” Moore also paid Newton’s living expenses for a long time.

In addition to his different approach to reading, Newton, because of his family’s poverty, carefully kept a record of his expenses, and he believed that “prudence with money is the basic Xi of the Christian life.”

Newton often wrote his prayers in his diary or on the empty pages of his textbooks, some of which are still preserved in the British Museum. He wrote: “It is dishonest and human cowardice to attempt to substitute one’s efforts for God’s blessings with fervent prayer. I don’t think Newton would have given the kind of testimony that I prayed and got what I just read last night, because then God would be so unfair to the students who usually work hard. Grounded faith is not a shortcut to success.

The pleasure of money was a great attraction to a poor student, and Newton wrote, ‘Lord, forgive me! ‘My heart desires to make money more than it desires your presence—but my heart is reunited with you at the Sunday bread-breaking (sacrament) meeting. Newton and his roommate Wirkkins often distributed Bibles to the poor outside of school, evangelizing them, and buying Bibles to distribute became the biggest expense of Newton’s student life, in addition to rent and food.

Apple & Garden

In 1664, Newton began to use his spare time to conduct his research. He first studied the structure of light with a prism and found that the spectroscopy of light has different refractive indexes.

Between 1665 and 1667, the terrible Black Death occurred in England, killing many people. The university announced the closure of classes, and the government ordered that no one should travel far from their homes to avoid spreading or contracting the Black Death. When the whole country was shrouded in the shadow of the Black Death, Newton wrote afterward that the more than two years of no classes and nowhere to go were “the moment when his life thought was at its peak.” At this time, he created a very important math called calculus, from the solution of infinite proportional series.

When Newton was asked afterward why he had made such a great discovery, Newton replied, “I always put the subject of my thoughts in front of me like a painting, and sketched it out bit by bit, until the whole painting slowly came to the fore.” This requires a long period of silence and constant meditation. 』

Newton’s contemplation of science is inextricably linked to his prayer life. He often thinks of science in the contemplation of faith, and in the contemplation of science, he thinks of faith. In 1666 he began to think about the movement of the earth in orbit and calculate the relationship between gravity and centrifugal force during its rotation, and in 1669 he wrote down his discovery in his notebook, the Law of Gravity. Did you know that without this immutable law in the universe, all objects, as small as a grain of sand or as large as a planet, would be flying around and becoming chaos.

When did Newton discover the law of gravitation? His friend Stukeley replied, ‘Newton used to walk in the garden, and one day at noon he came back and told me that he saw an apple fall to the ground and thought of gravity. This apple later became a symbol of Newton’s discovery of gravity, and more importantly, Newton had a Xi of coming alone to the garden to pray and meditate.

In his book “A Biography of Newton” in 1968, Manuel, a professor of history at New York University, wrote: “Modern science is derived from Newton’s meditation on God.”

Ah, the principle! 

At that time, many scientists and professors could not understand Newton’s outstanding discovery, and even ridiculed it as: “Another set of clichés to explain astronomy.” Thankfully, I had the support of Isaac Barrow.

He was one of the leading professors of mathematics and astronomy at Cambridge University, one of the few people who could carefully verify Newton’s ideas of mathematics and physics, and was also a Christian. He came to Newton and privately imposed the strictest requirements on this best student. Béjo asked Newton: “Go back to the most basic assumptions of physics, test each one with precision, again and again, almost endlessly, and put all your energy into it, so as not to waste it on useless sesame trifle.” He then asked for retirement so that Newton, who was only twenty-seven years old, would succeed him as a professor at Cambridge University.

The faculty at Cambridge was not Newton’s sweet spot. As soon as Newton took over, he immediately experienced many factional disputes and personnel disputes in the so-called academic freedom and independent university, and Newton, who liked to think quietly and was unsociable, was also excluded as a marginal person outside the power circle.

Newton’s old friend Wirkkins wrote: ‘Newton looked more lonely and silent, less than thirty years old, with his hair half-white. 』

Newton was determined not to get involved in these disputes, he fixed his eyes on eternity, no matter what people judged or slandered him, and only focused his efforts on scientific research and faith in Christ, and did not fall into self-pity after being slandered. Newton wrote: ‘My heart is always earnest and quiet, and does not fall into melancholy. 』

Slowly, he developed deeper reflections and experimental results into his masterpiece Principle. The book not only records Newton’s scientific discoveries, but also repeatedly mentions the relationship between his “mechanistic theory” and God, saying that the difference between true and false gods is that false gods do not control the universe, have no immutable will, have no final judgment, and belong to perishable creation.

The word “dominant” is constantly mentioned in the book, and he thinks that it is the most sacred and wonderful of God’s attributes, so that those who seek it can understand, and that mechanism is God’s law in charge of the universe, and that God has placed in the universe to make people understand his power. Albert Einstein said, “The most mysterious thing in the universe is that man can understand the universe.” 』

In his book Principia, Newton wrote: Just as a man born blind does not understand light, we cannot understand the wisdom and omnipotence of God. The image of God is not seen, heard, or touched, nor can it be represented by the corrupt false gods of the world, but we can only know Him in all His creation, God is still in power, and we are all under God’s control. False gods, on the other hand, have no authority, no eternal care, and no beginning of creation, but nothingness, finiteness, and nature as they are. Because of God’s sovereignty, we call Him Lord. We are His servants, but we are limited and incomplete.

The Valley of the Shadow of Death
In 1672 Newton joined the Royal Society of Science, the highest scientific research association in the country. The publication of Principia was a great shock to the scientific community throughout Europe, drawing praise and criticism. Nevertheless, Newton proposed in the Royal Society of Science the “principle of elliptical orbits of the planets” (1676-1677) and “mathematical proof of universal gravitation” (1680-1684).

Aston, a student of Newton, later wrote: “Newton spoke cautiously and slowly. He tried his best to avoid conflicts of will, did not see profit and forgot righteousness, did not flatter people, and preferred to endure insults in silence rather than wear full armor to fight with others. Newton said, ‘If a man can’t control his temper, his temper will control you.’ Newton’s life was guided by faith, not by his volatile temper. 』

Newton was not a perennial winner in scientific research. He studied experimental chemistry for a long time from 1669 to 1691 and made no discoveries, but he became acquainted with Boyle, known as the “father of modern chemistry”, and the two corresponded for sixteen years.

The elder and godly Boyle not only helped Newton in his research, but his example strengthened Newton’s faith at a time when Newton was under heavy criticism.

As an outstanding scientist, Newton liked to openly confess his beliefs, and he had a personality that was not good at socializing with people and liked to work quietly alone.

At that time, religious elements attacked him for having first-rate science but third-rate theology; scientific elements attacked him for having first-rate theology but third-rate science; political elements attacked him for being third-rate in science, theology, and interpersonal relations; some people slandered him for his mental inadequacy when they saw that he was filial to his mother and never married; some people still say that Newton had a mother-love complex; and some people say that he is homosexual because he is good to his students. These relentless attacks drove Newton almost insane.

In 1692, Professor Biot from Geneva denounced Newton as the ‘Prophet of London’, saying, ‘Newton’s law of gravitation is a meditation on religion, not a scientific discovery…… He had to make it clear that if it was science, don’t write about how God is, and if it’s about God, don’t put it in the category of science. 』

As soon as Beit opened fire, many people besieged Newton in groups. Newton, who usually did not think of defense, stood almost naked on the execution ground of science, receiving merciless attacks. On September 30, 1693, Newton wrote: “I am in a state of extreme sorrow. For the past twelve months, I have had no intention of eating and unable to sleep peacefully, my heart is shaken and I cannot think. 』

The relentless attacks continued, and in 1694 Newton was slandered for having sex with a woman, and in 1695 Newton was almost insane, and Newton was rumored to have died everywhere. Newton was speechless and withdrawn from the crowd, writing: “John Spencer’s book The laws of Hebrews was a consolation in my troubles. 』

After the King of England stepped in and appointed him President of the Royal Society, these attacks suddenly disappeared.

In the decades that followed, Newton insisted on establishing an “honest system” for the scientific community, drawing on the experience of the past two and a half years of vilification, and he was the best model.

To be an honest scientist was the best persuasion Boyle gave to Newton and all subsequent scientists before his death (1691), when Boyle wrote: ‘I am old, and it is time for me to write down what I know about chemistry. Some of this knowledge is the result of years of experimentation, and some of it is the result of careful discussion with others. I wrote down as much as I could, and I tried my best to write down some of the things that were difficult to understand so that those who came after me could judge them carefully. I write down the details of each research one by one and effectively pass on the knowledge through true and unfalsified records.

But despite all my efforts, I still can’t get a full picture of my knowledge. Now, I put the fruits of my life in your hands, and may you be like connoisseurs who appraise works of art. At that moment, it was a gift of my deep love for humanity and chemistry. 』

Don’t let other people’s mistakes become your stumbling blocks.
Suffering did not leave Newton. At the end of the seventeenth century, Christians claiming to be prophets sent by God cried out, “The end of the world is coming.” This wave of “doomsday theory” came from Cevennes, France, and burned through the cities of England like wildfire. Many rose up and chimed in, claiming to have seen visions of a ship laden with blood flying through the streets of England, and some said that many people were seen lying on the beach with blood as a harbinger of God’s coming judgment.

In a short period, thousands of peddlers followed the prophets of the last days, and even some of the best scientists of the Royal Academy of Sciences flocked to him because a good scientist could also fall into the mire of heresy because of his ignorance of religion.

Newton himself was a Christian, he studied the books of Daniel and Revelation for a long time and believed that the world mentioned in the Bible has an end day, that is, Christ Jesus will come to judge, but no one knows which day it is, and the correct attitude in the face of the end times should be more gratitude than fear, more calmness than evasion. So he disapproved of these prophets who were preaching the end times. He believed that godly faith was temperate rather than indulgent in zeal, genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit, and motivated by the Spirit of God, not by the almost hypnotic and suggestive teachings of self-proclaimed prophets.

Newton’s opposition to these prophets immediately drew bitter criticism and rebuke from many radical Christians. This misunderstanding broke Newton’s heart. It was during this time that Newton had a long period of wavering faith in his life (1698-1707). For Christians, merciless curses from other Christians are more painful than being hurt by ordinary people. Hurt can easily lead people to extremes, and many people later want to prove that Newton was an atheist or an agnostic, which is a quote from Newton’s words and deeds during this period. However, the growth of faith is not always smooth sailing, and there will inevitably be frequent adversities.

In 1707 the King of England decreed that these so-called ignorants, who had used religion for too many illicit gains, be sent to prison in London. The end of the world has not yet come, but theirs has come first. Since then, the winds of the last days have gradually subsided.

The Boy Who Picks Up Shells
Time is often the best healing agent. Newton returned from his misery became stronger in his faith, and was able to distinguish between the truth and the extreme, to submit to the difference between biblical truth and human speech, and to rethink physics, mathematics, and optics. In the reprint of the Principia, he wrote: “It is my greatest joy in publishing this book to let people know that I am doing this great work with faith in God. 』

In his later years, Newton became famous in Europe and his contributions were widely recognized. His greatest pleasure in old age was to play with children, and one day he said to his little nephew, ‘I don’t know what the world will think of me, for to me I am like a boy playing on the beach, and I am pleasant to stumble upon a round stone and a beautiful shell, but there are still as many stones and shells as the sea before me. 』

Newton died on March 20, 1727, and in his later years wrote:
“Hold fast to the redemptive truth and greatest commandment of Jesus Christ no matter the circumstances—to love your neighbor as yourself. 』